tonight and tomorrow. good evening. it is down to the 11th hour on this new year's eve. i'm jim handily in tonight for jim and doreen. the question right now will this deal pass both the house and the senate? steve handelsman is live with a countdown on capitol hill. >> reporter: too late to stop the plunge but the senate plan would make it a bungee jump. a scary fall but a quick bounce back. as midnight approached vice president biden came to the capital. >> happy new year. >> to sell democrats on the fiscal cliff deal he made with senate republicans. it would keep taxes from rising on 98% of americans but raise rates on families making over $450,000 a year. president obama campaigned for a lower cut off. $250,000. but he claimed victory. >> keep in mind that just last month republicans in congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest americans.

>> reporter: but house speaker john boehner and his gop lawmakers might still not agree. >> the house stands adjourned until noon tomorrow. >> boehner sent house lawmakers home to celebrate the new year without a vote to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> listen, this is disgusting. and everybody involved should be embarrassed. >> off the cliff at midnight the economy could take a hit but senate leaders hope to counter that with a rare, strong, bipartisan vote. house conservatives could still reject the plan and keep america from climbing back up the cliff. i'm steve handelsman, news 4, capitol hill. >> again the senate is expected to vote on those bills sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. top democrats say it will have their support. tomorrow at noon could be where we really find out if the deal holds up. stay with news 4 and nbc

washington.com for the latest developments through the night. they are mourning in a prince william county tonight after a police officer was killed in the line of duty. 35-year-old motorcycle police officer chris young crashed into a minivan while responding to a call. it was a fiery collision. news 4's david culver shows us how young is being remembered tonight. >> reporter: a tragedy for the prince william county police department as they mourn the loss of one of their own. officer chris young killed when his motorcycle crashed into a minivan right here on nokesville road. distraught looks on the faces of loved ones visiting his crash site. prince william county police say the 35-year-old motorcycle officer was responding to an accident when his bike collided with this minivan. the driver of that now charred van is not hurt but doctors pronounced officer young dead at a nearby hospital. >> sad.

heart broken. >> reporter: brendan thomas works at a chick-fil-a that overlooked the scene of the crash and says this face was a familiar and friendly one inside his restaurant. >> most of the police officers come into our restaurant every morning for breakfast or at least wauns week. we know them on a first name basis. when the news got around it was one of the police officers that was actually injured and has since passed we just sprung into action. >> thomas and his crew packed almost 200 sandwiches for the officers and first responders at the crash. they even sent some home to young's family. kim curans is a former military police officer. she heard the crash and saw the explosion. as she starts this new year she is reminded of one thing. >> life is so quick. it can be over in a matter of seconds. >> reporter: police stayed on scene for several hours trying to piece together the details of this crash. there is no word tonight if any charges will be filed against the driver of that minivan. in prince william county i'm david culver, news 4.

doctors treating hillary clinton tonight for a blood clot say they are confident she'll make a full recovery. secretary clinton is still in the hospital this evening. she checked in yesterday after an exam revealed the clot between her brain and skull. doctors found it while doing followup tests related to a concussion. secretary clinton is in good spirits we hear and doctors say she could be released as soon as they determine the right dosage for her medication. almost a million people are packed into times square tonight in new york city. we are less than an hour away, folks, from the ball dropping and the confetti falling. we'll get a live report at street level there in just a few minutes but first storm team 4 chief meteorologist doug kammerer has a look at our new year's eve forecast. >> last year at this time we were talking about temperatures close to 50 degrees. right now we're sitting at 39. not too bad. could get a lot colder this time of year. 39 degrees in washington. wind chill down to about 33, 34. it is quite chilly. 32 in manassas. 34 in gaithersburg.

look down to the south. the clouds really helping to keep our temperatures warm. 46 in fredericksburg. 45 down toward patuxent river. i want to show you what's happening just to our west. notice our next storm system making its way, now rain to the south snow to the north. how is this one going to affect your new year's day? as we head into 2013 we are going to see some weather changes moving in. i'll show you what those are in a minute. >> thank you. a big party in alexandria under way right now. families there sampling the food, the music and lots of festivities at their annual first night celebration. news 4's darcy spencer is taking it all in where the party ends in less than an hour from now with that big fireworks display. darcy? >> reporter: this is where the big party is here tonight. this is king street here behind me. they have closed it off. you can see it is a street celebration. now everyone is just waiting until midnight for this spectacular fireworks display. teddy the clown makes balloons for the kids inside the masonic

memorial temple at the first night alexandria tradition. >> love it. i truly do. i really do. my favorite thing thousands are attending the family oriented event where lots of kids including zoe got their faces painted. >> we've actually never been down. we live in leesburg but made the trip down because we thought it would be a great event. >> these 7-year-old triplets were showing their holiday spirit and looking forward to midnight when fireworks will light up the sky in old town. have you been to first night before? >> this is the first time i came for the night and the new year and the celebration with my kids. >> reporter: parents enjoyed dancing with little ones to live music and people lined up to enjoy fare from food trucks, a first night first. ♪ >> reporter: live entertainment kicked off at 10:00 tonight in old town as we prepared to welcome 2013. that live entertainment

continuing as we speak tonight. people are awaiting the fireworks. that'll happen at the stroke of midnight. this year they're setting them off on a barge here along the potomac. so some great viewing tonight and a great way to ring in 2013. >> big finish. darcy, thanks. if you're out tonight there are plenty of ways to get home without getting behind the wheel. metro is open until 2:00 a.m. the sober ride taxi program is also running until 6:00 tomorrow morning. you can call 1-800-200-taxi for a free ride up to 30 bucks. uber is on surge pricing. base fares can be as high as $100 before adding extra for time and the mileage, too. and police want you to speak up. if you see someone driving drunk, call 911. well, we have been waiting an awful long time to say this. the redskins are the nfc east champions and headed to the playoffs. fans we talked to today are on cloud 9. >> i'm delighted, not just

happy. i'm ecstatic. >> hail to the redskins! hail victory! we are on the war path and fight for all d.c. >> that's a plunger he is holding. the skins play the sea hawks on sunday and just that one game at fedex field means some big bucks in business for prince georges county. officials expect sunday's game to yield more than half a million dollars in amusement and admissions taxes alone. when we come back tonight on news 4 at 11:00 we'll have much more on the redskins' run to the playoffs in sports including a look at their opponent and we'll go live to times square street level as they count down to midnight. and it's an all important [ male announcer ] this commercial is not about getting fios;

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a look at more local new year's eve celebrations. 7,000 people headed out to big night d.c., at national harbor. it is the fourth year for the party. the event is all inclusive. lots of music, dancing, plenty of food. it all ends with a huge midnight celebration. the party continues there until 3:00 a.m. at midnight tonight, same sex marriage becomes legal in maryland. some couples are planning to say "i do" right away. sabrina pettis and natasha jackson have planned their ceremony down to the minute. their officient will declare them married at 12:501 no matter where she is in the ceremony.

the couple lives in frederick with their three children and are glad this moment is finally here. >> i'm just excited and thankful that we could have this day. i'm just happy. >> in november maryland voters approved a referendum to allow gay marriage. the unions are now legal in nine states and the district. well, it is the place to be on new year's eve but if you want to get a spot in times square, you got to get there early. jay gray got there early for us tonight. he is live on the ground for new year's eve with just a few hundred thousand of your closest friends. right? >> yeah. and, jim, getting closer as the night moves on. this place is packed. people still trying to push their way in. we got less than an hour before the ball drops here. we officially welcome in 2013. it's already been quite a party. that will cap it oof. it's also been a very safe night i should add, an army of new york city police officers on the ground, up in the air. many in uniform. some out of uniform making sure

that it stays that way throughout the night. they say this will be the safest place in the world this evening. also a special night of tributes especially for dick clark, a guy who for 40 years made this such an important celebration. really shared it with the world, was such an ambassador for times square and new year's eve. his name engraved in one of the triangles on the waterford crystal ball that will fall here within the hour. the only time that's ever been done it will stay on there for a year and everyone here tonight remembering and talking about dick clark and really just honoring his legacy to what this celebration has been. we heard from sai, gangnam style. we heard from mc hammer and drake. they're setting the stage for taylor swift. it's been a rocking new year's eve and one that is going to continue well into january first. i have to admit this will be the first time in years i've been up until midnight. so happy new year to you and everybody back there. >> happy new year to you. good luck getting out of there too tonight.

all right. doug joins us now. you have done this drill before yourself. >> yes. >> it's always cold but the numbers help because the more people you have the warmer. >> oh, yes. the big thing too up there in times square the wind is not a huge factor tonight. it has been in the past. last year our temperature for new year's eve 62 degrees during the day. we were over 50 degrees at midnight. that's not bad. out there right now we are on the cool side of things. still, this time of year you know how cold it can be. as a matter of fact, last night was a very cold night. as you were out at the redskins game you know what i'm talking about. we saw a low this morning of 29 degrees. if that was our temperature now a lot of people would be on the cold side of things but that is not quite where we are. 41 degrees the high temperature. look where we could be. this time of the year the coldest december temperature ever. minus 13 was set on this date way back in 1880 just a few years ago. temperature right now, sitting at 39 degrees with the cloud cover. the temperatures not going to drop a whole lot but even a

little breeze. wind chill down to about 35. it is a little bit on the chilly side. around the region 36 in leesburg. 32 in manassas. that is the coldest area. look at fredericksburg at 46 and 45 toward pax river. radar picture on the clear side. we'll stay on the clear side as the radar moves through the next 12 hours or so. look back to the west. this is a storm system, a lot of moisture and snow and a lot of rain down toward the south. notice, which direction it's going in. right over toward our region over the next 12 hours. i want you to check this out very, very closely. here is our future weather. we've got the cool air. if this moved over right now it would come down as snow. no problem at all. the snow builds and here it is right over the mountains. the mountains getting some snow overnight tonight into early tomorrow morning but watch what happens when it moves east. nothing. there is nothing that comes through tomorrow. we may see a sprinkle. we may see a flurry. but that is it.

the air just too dry on the east side of the mountains. the mountains active as the buffer. we're not going to see much in the way of precipitation at all. once again a sprinkle. maybe a flurry. that's about it. then behind this breezy and cold. we start the first week of 2013. it does look like it's going to be on the cold side. wind chill on wednesday all day staying in the 20s. we've seen that already this year. cloudy, seasonally mild. happy new year. temperatures 31 to 34 degrees. an isolated flurry possible tomorrow morning. possible rain or snow shower tomorrow during the afternoon. the best chance of that will stay to the south. temperatures 38 to 43 degrees. as we move on through, 2013, 38 on your wednesday. 40 on thursday. 39 on friday. and the warmest day right now looks like saturday and monday with a temperature in the mid 40s and right now sunday looking okay as we take on the seattle sea hawks, 41 degrees for a high. 40 at game time. >> all right. a little warmer than yesterday. >> yes. just a hair. >> all right. thank you, doug.

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we got a week to wait for seattle. >> will take about a week to get here. >> taking greyhounds or hitch hiking. >> the last game was nervous against the cowboys but this one because it's the playoff and everything is on the line it makes you even more nervous. somehow some way the redskins managed to do the unthinkable. at 3-6 few outside the locker room believed the team could make the playoff run but this redskins team is the hottest team in the nfc.

seven straight wins to finish out the year. that's the second longest current winning streak in the lead behind the broncos. skins took the division. they did it at home against their rivals. for veteran players that have been through the ups and downs over the years it couldn't have come and ended any better for this group. >> i can't explain the feeling. everybody knows what it meant to me. i probably want the win more than anybody, man. it's bitter sweet. >> just to be here as long as i have and to be fighting as long as i've been fighting, it just feels good to really finally getting over that hump and now going to go do damage. we knew it wasn't going to be easy. we made it happen. i feel like we're still just getting started. we just started in the playoffs so we'll keep going. >> to come out and play up to our current level and finish out the season strong and on top and give dallas -- against dallas, no other feeling like it. now we got a home playoff game. got to get ready for seattle.

>> the sea hawks are coming to fedex field sunday and coming in on a hot streak of their own winning their last five games. this team is very similar to the redskins. led by the dynamic rookie quarterback. russell wilson has thrown for 26 touch downes on the season just as effective with his legs too rushing for close to 500 yards and four scores. as peat carroll and mike shanahan look ahead some of their colleagues weren't so lucky today. it's black monday around the nfl. they call it that because usually today head coaches loss their jobs. after five nfc championship appearances andy reid has been let go by the philadelphia eagles. san diego has fired former redskins head coach foreinorthe turner. lovie smith is out in chicago. chan gailey was canned up in buffalo axed after three

seasons. not a good day. >> no. >> the guys work 22-hour days. >> you come back from a 3-6 and where we are now no risk of that in washington.

an update on the fiscal cliff. vice president joe biden has just left the capitol telling reporters tonight you should never predict how the house is going to vote. be sure to follow for the latest

on nbc washington.com and first thing on news 4 today tomorrow morning. well, they are busy in pasadena tonight putting the finishing touches on everything for this year's tournament of roses parade. teams have been hard at work all week long decorating floats with flowers. this one a tribute to those who have been organ donors. the rose parade starts rolling tomorrow morning at 11:00. watch it right here on nbc 4. that's our broadcast tonight. carson daly is up next with the final countdown to 2013 live from times square. how much time we got? 32. happy new year. see you on the other side next year. you're right. 32.